Starting a Small Business Need Help ASAP

Are you in San Antonio? If so, you go down town to the building where you get liscenses (like marriage liscence etc) and you get a DBA #. They will tell you what to do there. It is really easy. You have to have a name for your business and it cannot already exist (or even be close to the name of another one). Hope this helps.

Hi N.,

Here's the skinny:

You have the choice between being a sole proprietorship or a corporation. As a corporation, you would collect a salary.

This can be good if you make a good profit, because you can operate your corporation at a financial loss and take a tax deduction from it, all the while collecting a salary. This only works if you have another income, as well, which you can put into your coroporation as a financier. Either way, you get a salary so it works out in the wash with smaller taxes.

I'm not entirely sure how the next part works, but my understanding is you need a board of directors for a corporation and shares. You can choose to sell shares or keep them private. The board can be made up of your family, including minor children. Check with the state on that one, but I know that as a minor I sat on the board of my parent's corporation. Laws in that regard might have changed.

The real benefit to being a corporation is that your personal property is protected from litigation. The corporation and its assets can be sued but you cannot.

SInce you would be an employee of your corporation, you have to pay into medicare and social security. You also need an EIN. I don't know how to obtain yourself but I do know that you can pay people to do it over the internet. Generally, however, these things are easy and you should just do it yourself and save yourself a mess of money.

For a sole proprietorship all you really need is a DBA obtained from the county offices downtown. You just go down there with your business name and pay a small fee (under $60) for them to research the name to see if it already exists in the area and voila you're set for ten years, at which time you renew your DBA. Your business tax ID is taken care of there, too, if I remember correctly.

The problems with sole p's, though they are so easy to get, is that you can be sued. They can sue you for everything your family has. Also, small business taxes are about 40% for me. You can't operate a sole P at a loss because it just blends in with all your household income. Well, you can invest in a lot of equipment and if this is your income and not your spouse's you can operate as a loss, but if you are making a profit it can be heavy taxes.

To have employees you need an EIN number. You don't need that as a sole P if it is just you.

Don't forget to offer yourself insurance and other benefits through your corporation or sole P and write it off as a business expense! If it causes you to operate as a loss (and subsidize through your spouse's income) all the better.

I hope this makes sense.

Umber

N., the only thing you need is an LLC and file it as an s corporation. just go down to your local court house file the paper work. I think it cost $18. then log onto irs.gov and apply for your ein #.. after that you will be able to open a business account.

Hi N.,

I opened my business in March. As an LLC no one can go after your personal property if there were to be a lawsuit. It cost $300 and you can register online. The paperwork took me about 5 minutes to fill out. Very simple. Just a lot of money, but the protection you get is worth it.

For the comapny name, you will need to register the business name with the state. If you do not and someone else wants to use that name and they get to the state before you, they will have the right to the name and can make you change your business name.

I looked into tradearking and that was just paperwork and once again writing a check to the state. Most of these thins are about money. The State didn't even require a copy of my business LLC agreement. They just wanted my credit card number and a few pieces of information.

Good luck with your business. If you are in San Antonio you can contact the Small Business Devlopement Center at the UTSA dowtown campus. They were a big help in getting things started for me as well as a great resource after I opened my business.

My memory is a little vague. I started my business (sole proprietorship is what the State and Federal tax forms call it) in Bryan, TX, which happens to be the county seat. The county clerk has a listing in the phone book and the lady who answered got me to the right place. I filled out a form which "registered" my business.

Filling in the Federal tax forms isn't hard.

Will your business be selling a retail item? Mine is a service and I don't have inventory. That makes a difference and makes my annual tax filing easier. I wouldn't know what kinds of hurdles you might come across if you have inventory.

Now, there are city rules (ordinances) to learn about. What I learned, for my area, is that I can run my business from my home. The rule is the opposite for College Station ("next door" to Bryan), but it turns out that what it boils down to is, now that I have moved to College Station, I can't put an advertising sign in my front yard (why would I want to do that?). Anyway, send me a message separately if you want to talk about this.

You might want to consider if there is a benefit to waiting until Jan 1 before "starting" your business.